Oscar has odd discolorations - Page 2

kopite · 06-06-2010, 05:43 AM

I know that oscars are omnivorous (though mostly carnivorous), I've feed my oscar frozen peas, shrimp pellets, and feeder fish since I got it at 4 " (he's 10" now). He moved all of the artificial vegetation to one side of the tank so he had room to hunt, but now he doesn't mess with anything (he's got about 2' to mess with). 3 days ago I "rooted the fake plants" and he hasn't touched them (he hasn't touched them for about 2 months since he moved them to where he wanted). He likes having a wide birth to sleep and attack feeders, but I'm hoping (its a big hope) that I can produce a more natural environment and reduce the phosphates in the tank naturally.

Judge · 06-06-2010, 09:28 AM

You can always "try" to give him some natural plants...I probably would just to see if he would mess with them. Oscars are really neat. I had ones ages ago that had lots of personality, grumpy as all heck but personable none the less. Name was Louie, about 7 inches in size and nothing got past him, plants, fish, fingers,,the usual! Let us know how it goes if you decide to give it a try. I am curious. Most experts agree that about 2% of their population (for some unknown reason) never mess with stuff. maybe that's yours!

kopite · 06-06-2010, 12:56 PM

I think within the week I'm going to give live plants a go. I need some advice to keep the plants alive though (not taking into account the oscar's handling of them). I've had horrid luck in the past with plants, partially because I put them in a tank with silver dollars. How do I keep the plants healthy, how long do I leave the lights on, etc?

ZeroSystem · 06-06-2010, 02:59 PM

There's a ton of information on how to keep plants in the planted tank section of the boards. Usually you will want to leave the lights on for 8 to 10 hours a day.

Judge · 06-06-2010, 07:13 PM

That's the great thing about this forum..you can research posts and find answers to all kinds of things. The new front page article is about plants so check it out. You can also use the "search" function on the bar up top to search for specifics or at least narrow down some specific questions since this a very broad subject.